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Isuzu Motorsports

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The Isuzu Motorsports International Off-Road Race Team is based in Sydney, Australia. Cars built and prepared by Isuzu Motorsport have competed and succeeded in both rally and off-road events around the world. list of off-road racing achievements over some 20 years, and their names are well known in global off-road racing circles. The team trophy room is filled with podium finishes and outright wins from around the world.

Biography

Adrian Di Lallo

Hiroaki (harry) Suzuki

Born: April 9, 1965 in Tokyo, Japan.
Lives: Sydney, Australia.

Growing up in the Hills district of Perth, Adrian’s first taste of motorsport was as a young teen when he watched the World Rally Championship (Rally Australia) competitors drive through his neighbourhood on their way to the special stages. As a teenager, Adrian began to dream about one day competing at Dakar.

Despite being a motorsport fan his whole life, Adrian dedicated his time building up his business interests. He only began competing in motorsport just over six years ago at the age of 31.

Tarmac rallying was his initial choice, entering Targa West rally for the first time in 2005. However, the fatal accident involving Australian motorsport legend Peter Brock at the same event in 2006 forced Adrian to take stock and reassess what it was about motorsport that he loved. He went on the following year to complete the 2007 Targa West, but further down the field after an accident damaged his car.

It wasn’t reaching high speed that appealed Adrian, but rather the technical skill required to drive in challenging conditions. In 2010, Adrian entered Australia’s toughest motorsport event, the Australasian Safari. In his rookie Safari year, Adrian finished an impressive first in his class and sixth outright. It was at this event that Adrian met some key contacts that would later help him realise his Dakar dream.

His best result to date was in the 2011 Australasian Safari where he finished on the podium in third outright.

In 2012, Adrian entered the same event in an Isuzu D-MAX. He finished impressively in fifth outright after climbing up to second outright against some of the best off-road drivers in the southern hemisphere.

After two years of negotiations, work and building his Isuzu D-Max , Adrian’s Dakar dream became a reality in 2013 where he completed every stage crossing the finish line in Santiago Chile in 38th position outright 101 positions up from his start position.

In a T2 production class Isuzu mu-X, Adrian stood on top of the podium with a first in class win and 5th outright in the 2014 Australasian Safari, affectionately known as the 'Dakar Downunder'.

In 2015, he took the mu-X to challenge the Dakar rally with Harry as his co-driver.

Harry’s motorsport career started at the age of 15 when he was still living in Japan, but it was on two wheels, not four. For years he competed in motocross events, developing split-second reaction times and how to read different terrains – skills that would become very handy in later years.

He started his working life as an apprentice mechanic; fortunately for Harry, it was the division that built and prepared race cars for the national one-make series that ran as a support category for bigger events.

In 1988, he was asked by friends of a mutual connection if he would service for them on their big adventure: the Wynn’s Safari in Australia. They tackled the event in an Isuzu but failed to finish.

The car was left in Australia and Harry returned six months later to organize for it to be repaired, ready for the following year. He found the right mechanic to do the job – Bruce Garland – and in 1989, Harry and his friends finished the Safari.

Harry decided to stay in Australia and in 1990 and 1991, he competed in the Safari as navigator/engineer for the Isuzu Racing Team. Harry was also the negotiator between the rally team and Isuzu’s senior marketing and engineering management, a role that he has continued since joining forces with Bruce. It’s a role that has been pivotal to the team’s success.

After a couple of years on the sidelines following their Safari successes, Harry and Bruce decided to tackle the Dakar. They built the D-MAX, tested it at the Condo 750 and the Safari before heading to Dubai for the UAE Desert Challenge, and on to Argentina in January 2009 for the start of the Dakar where they finished first in class.

Harry continues to compete in numerous races under Isuzu Motorsports including the Australasian Safari in 2014, where he race with Bruce in a D-MAX and completed the race with a class win and in 2015, where Harry compete in Dakar rally 2015 with the mu-X together with Adrian.

Copyright 2012 ISUZU All New D-Max all rights reserved by: ISUZU and IMIT